Collin Cable

May 30, 1999

Mr. Pinkwater,

I have just read your compilation, 5 Novels. They are very easily five of the best books I have ever read. I have just recently found out that your works stretch out far above the 50 Novels mark. What I was wondering was, who do you get your influences from? I’ve read Alan Mendelsohn and The Snarkout Boys and the Avacado of Death at least 20 times each, and I can’t find a trace of anybody elses influence. It’s completely original and creative. I hope to be a writer and I probably won’t be able to stop what your books have done to my mind from leaking in. Oh, and when are you going to write another Snarkout Boys book? The Avacado of Death is my personal favorite. After 60 books I would be more then tired but you just keep going strong. Thanks for your books, Mr. Pinkwater.

Collin Cable

P.S. My 4 Favorite books used to be Deadeye-Dick, by Kurt Vonnegut, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in The Rye, and The Great Gatsby. Then I discovered you. That changed them to: The Avacado of Death, Alan Mendelsohn, Young Adult Novel, and The Baconburg Horror. 4 in a row, congrats.

No one, including me, is without influences. I have plenty...so many that I am not going to start listing them now. I am just about done negotiating for another collection, which will include, THE SNARKOUT BOYS AND THE BACONBURG HORROR; THE WORMS OF KUKUMLIMA; YOBGORGLE, MYSTERY MONSTER OF LAKE ONTARIO; and BORGEL. I expect it will be out within a year. I haven't written 50 novels. I hear there are 70 to 80 books, but many of them are picture books and story books. 
I'm glad you like my stuff.